Fats and oils play an important role in the food manufacturing industry. They are a significant component in the taste of foods. They are also integral to the chemistry of food. For example, fats interfere with the development of wheat glutens thereby imparting a shortening effect on the texture of the finished baked product and act to soften the texture of finished baked products.
A difficulty in the use of fats and oils in the food manufacturing industry is that they are not water soluble. Most traditional applications rely on mechanical means to disperse the lipid materials into the food products during the baking process. This mechanical dispersion is inefficient in that the fats and oils are traditionally hydrophobic which may result in inefficiencies in the use of these compounds in food manufacturing, for example in dough systems. Another difficulty in using fats and oil in the food manufacturing industry is that there is a concerted effort underway in society to reduce the fat content of foods.
Attempts have been made to produce commercially viable processes for the formation of stable emulsions that are capable of delivering substances such as fat, without causing retrogradation, lump formation, etc. in food products. U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,990 to Decnop discloses a process related to a cold-water dispersible starch product and a process for producing the same. The process involves mixing a native starch in the form of an aqueous suspension with a mono- or diglyceride. The resulting starch product is readily dispersible in cold water or an aqueous liquid. However, the lipids in the resulting starch are hydrogen bonded to the outside of the starch. Consequently, the product may exhibit retrogradation and extrusion of water because the hydroxyl groups of the starch are located on the outside of the molecule that is formed, thereby allowing hydrogen bonding with other polar hydroxyl groups, which in turn leads to retrogradation and extrusion of water from the final product. In addition, this process does not work with triglycerides alone.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,651,366 to Berthon discloses a process for the preparation of soluble esters of fatty acids from unmodified starch. As with Decnop, above, the lipid is bonded to the outside of the starch.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a commercially viable process which forms efficient delivery vehicles for fats and oils into food products. In order to be practical for use in food products, these vehicles should be stable and resistant to retrogradation when used in food products and should provide functionality to allow dispersion into a variety of food products.